


Music

by Marsalias



Series: Dannymay 2019 [15]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, crossposted on ffn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24344227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marsalias/pseuds/Marsalias
Summary: Danny usually did better when he fought against Ember. But, usually, Ember didn't team up with Skulker, Johnny, and Kitty, and, usually, his parents didn't keep him up all night testing out a 'Ghost Whistle.' He was particularly peeved about that last. What did they even need a whistle that only ghosts could hear, anyway?In other words, he was tired and beaten up.Furthermore, he was having trouble even finding Ember. She had discovered that strategically placed speakers could be used as decoys, and had strewn them liberally around the park. His ghost sense helped somewhat, but Ember's ghostly groupies helped her confuse the matter. He'd fought three ghosts with 'Ember Rocks!' t-shirts already.
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Sam Manson
Series: Dannymay 2019 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757458
Comments: 2
Kudos: 164





	Music

Danny usually did better when he fought against Ember. But, usually, Ember didn't team up with Skulker, Johnny, and Kitty, and, usually, his parents didn't keep him up all night testing out a 'Ghost Whistle.' He was particularly peeved about that last. What did they even need a whistle that only ghosts could hear, anyway?

In other words, he was tired and beaten up.

Furthermore, he was having trouble even _finding_ Ember. She had discovered that strategically placed speakers could be used as decoys, and had strewn them liberally around the park. His ghost sense helped somewhat, but Ember's ghostly groupies helped her confuse the matter. He'd fought three ghosts with 'Ember Rocks!' t-shirts already.

He paused, listening. He could hear Ember's voice coming from several places, but he wasn't sure which one, if any, was actually her. Heck, she could be miles away and broadcasting. What he was hearing could be a recording. He didn't know, and none of the ghosts he had caught had been particularly forthcoming. All he knew was that Ember _had_ been here, in Amity, earlier today, and he could still hear her music. Which was really starting to get on his nerves. He might have had some resistance to the mind-control properties of her music, and he was wearing his Fenton Phones, but, dang, hearing the same song over and over and over and over... It wouldn't kill Ember to get some new material, would it?

"Sam," he started, voice pitched low, "I'm over by the barbecue area. I think I hear four, my ghost sense went off a bit ago. How are you guys doing?" The had agreed on regular updates before they split up.

"We're still by the entrance. Too many fans."

"Ugh. I hate it when my enemies learn strate-"

Another groupie jumped him. He ducked. This one was working hard at getting into close range. Danny didn't feel like letting him, instead flying up into clear air, away from the crowded ground. But the ghost didn't follow, and, shoot, there were humans down there! Where had they come from? Danny dove back down-

-and was jumped by the people he'd come to save. Gosh, he hated mind control. He went intangible, and phased out of the grip of the hypnotized humans.

He flew away from the humans, getting them out of the line of fire. "Hey!" he said, getting the ghosts attention as he pulled back his fist. "You want a smash hit? I'll give you one!" He shot and ectoblast at the ghost, knocking it back, and followed up quickly with the thermos.

He took a moment to breathe. Something felt wrong. His hand went up to his ear, then across to his other one. Heck. His Fenton Phones had been knocked out in the last scuffle. That wasn't any good. He was only _resistant_ to Ember's music, not immune, especially when Ember there in person and wasn't trying to make him worship her. He should retreat for now, get another pair. One good thing about Ember was that she wasn't likely to directly hurt her fans.

In the meantime, he had to be careful. He didn't want to have a repeat of the first time he'd encountered Ember.

Of course, as soon as Danny thought that, all the nearby speakers shrieked into high volume. Danny pressed his hands over his ears. His ghost sense went of, giving him just enough time to get out of the way of one of Ember's musical blasts.

He shot a few ectoblasts Ember's way, "I hear you're trying to make your listeners deaf now," he shouted, "how's that working out? More people sticking around for your sing alongs?"

"Keep talking, dipstick, soon you'll be singing a different tune!" Ember's voice came out of the speakers, and, dang, that was actually a pretty good pun there.

"You should take your own advice," he shot back. "I mean, man, talk about a one-hit wonder!"

Intimidation and trash-talk were an important part of every 'friendly' ghost fight. Danny didn't really understand it himself, but the willingness to participate in banter sort of signified that there would be base rules followed, a certain sense of honor, lines that wouldn't be crossed. Apparently it was a ghost thing, though when banter dissolved into megalomaniac rants, all bets were off, and that could be a pretty fine line.

Ember scowled. "Too bad for you this isn't amateur hour," she strummed her guitar. "You're worse than the old man!"

Danny's ears were really starting to hurt. And 'old man?' Was she talking about Vlad? If he was behind this the sudden change in strategy made sense. Crud.

Apparently Vlad could read minds, because the second Danny made that realization, Vlad dropped on him from above, plowing him into the ground. Vlad's hand was around his neck, and, despite what he thought was a pretty good recovery, he was being shocked.

His body spasmed, as it always did when faced with large amounts of electricity, and he fell limp, breathing hard. He wasn't as inexperienced as he had once been, however, and he quickly tried to return the favor with his own ghost stinger. Vlad, however, had more endurance that Danny, and his response was both quicker and stronger. Danny's skin sparkled as he fell out of ghost mode.

"There, there, little badger," said Vlad, smugly, "don't worry, I just need you to sleep for a-"

"Hold it, old man," said Ember. Danny's ears began to ring in the relative quiet.

"What?" said Vlad, clearly annoyed.

"You said I could do what I wanted to him before you took him, and I heard baby pop here has a set of pipes."

"... What?" croaked Danny.

"You can't be serious," said Vlad.

"Deadly," said Ember, grinning. She materialized a microphone and shoved it in Danny's face. "Go ahead, sing."

Danny only managed a squeak as Vlad's hand tightened around his throat.

"The thing is, I do have him.," said Vlad, sneer obvious in his voice, "and I rather want to get on with my plans, if you don't mind."

"I do mind, actually. Come on, pops, it'll take, like, five minutes."

"I'll do it!" Danny got out, with some effort.

Vlad gave him a disgusted look, then ground out, " _Fine,_ " and slapped what looked like a metallic, hight-tech bracelet around Danny's wrist.

Danny eyed it with disfavor. "Let me guess, it'll shock me if I use my powers?"

"Something like that," said Vlad, keeping a firm hand around Danny's other wrist.

Danny sighed heavily, and took the microphone gingerly from Ember. It squeaked a little as he breathed into it. Maybe he could make a really loud noise and startle Vlad? No, both he and Ember would be expecting that. Maybe he could pull Vlad into a false sense of security then punch him in the face and run for it? Or he could try to stall long enough for help to arrive... Although, this was pretty far from the entrance.

Current plan: stall as long as possible, hope help arrives, if it doesn't, punch Vlad in the face and run for it. Good plan.

Okay. New question, what should he sing?

"Stage fright, baby pop?" asked Ember, her grin a bit softer than usual, though her tone was still mocking. She adjusted one of the knobs on guitar, and struck a chord.

Part of Danny's mind went blank, he raised the microphone to his lips and started to sing the first song that popped into his head.

It was:

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word, papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird..."

Which was, yes, sort of lame, but, hey! It was probably the first song he'd ever learned, and at least it wasn't something _really_ embarrassing, like the Ghost Busters' theme song. Besides, he could probably draw this one out for a long time.

But it turned out he didn't have to, because both Vlad and Ember keeled over halfway through the fifth verse. Despite this, whatever Ember had done to him made him keep singing. But Danny was good at multitasking. He prodded Vlad a couple of times, and, satisfied that Vlad was really asleep, searched him for the key to the bracelet. He got it off, stuck both key and bracelet in his pocket, and went ghost, still singing. He unhooked his thermos from his belt, and sucked up both Vlad and Ember.

Only then did he stop to think about how weird this was, and how he had segued into 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." He really, really hoped that Ember's thing would wear off soon, and that knocking out people by singing at them would be a power he could turn on and off. He did like to sing in the shower, after all.

He sighed internally. Best make the best of this, anyway. He could go get Ember's groupies while they were unconscious. If they were unconscious. While he could make them unconscious. Whatever.

Luckily for Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz had managed to keep their Fenton Phones in, so they hadn't been affected, and finding the rest of the groupies was way easier. On the other hand, because of the singing, he had to communicate to them in mime. Jazz was not good at mime.

This was followed by trying to get all of the hypnotized fans into less awkward or dangerous positions (at least three of them had made it into trees.)

All the while, Danny couldn't. Stop. Singing. He was beginning to hate the sound of his own voice.

Before it could quite get to that point, however, his voice got scratchy and hoarse, then disappeared. He was still mouthing words to songs.

"How are we going to fix this?" asked Tucker, after they had found a relatively secluded place in the park to hide.

"How did you fix it last time?" asked Jazz.

"Well," said Sam, blushing, "it was kind of different last time."

Danny pointed at Tucker, and mimed putting something on his head.

"You want to use the brainwashing helmets? Does the school even have those anymore?"

"I think you should try the first way first," said Tucker, leaning forward and grinning. "I mean, it's just the shock, right?"

"What _was_ the first way?" asked Jazz again.

"I know you want to," said Tucker.

Sam glared at him, then practically jumped on Danny. Danny literally felt his heart stop. Mercifully, his lips stopped too.

"Oh," said Jazz.

"So," said Tucker, "was it a shock?"


End file.
